SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,010,000 shares, an increase of 25.6% from the October 15th total of 1,600,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 826,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Approximately 0.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on SAP. Argus upgraded shares of SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on SAP from $248.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on SAP from $252.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of SAP from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of SAP from $234.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $252.33.

SAP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SAP opened at $231.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $284.27 billion, a PE ratio of 93.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $228.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $209.79. SAP has a twelve month low of $147.60 and a twelve month high of $243.01.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The software maker reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by ($0.08). SAP had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The business had revenue of $8.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that SAP will post 4.9 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of SAP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SAP. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SAP in the first quarter worth about $215,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in SAP in the 1st quarter valued at $270,000. Blair William & Co. IL purchased a new position in shares of SAP during the 1st quarter valued at $247,000. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its holdings in shares of SAP by 5.2% in the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 10,410 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,030,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares during the period. Finally, Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in SAP by 17.8% during the first quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,760 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $538,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the period.

SAP Company Profile

SAP SE, together with its subsidiaries, provides applications, technology, and services worldwide. It offers SAP S/4HANA that provides software capabilities for finance, risk and project management, procurement, manufacturing, supply chain and asset management, and research and development; SAP SuccessFactors solutions for human resources, including HR and payroll, talent and employee experience management, and people and workforce analytics; and spend management solutions that covers direct and indirect spend, travel and expense, and external workforce management.